Changing the Prophecy Chapter 18

 

Chapter 18 The Emerald Crystal

After a few minutes, when Doshmisi could finally let go of her father, and after she had stopped crying, she greeted her brothers and sister. She gave Cardamom a warm hug. “Wow, Elena,” she said to Maia’s friend, “you must have had the surprise of your life when you popped through after the passage.”

“Surprise is an understatement,” Elena replied.

“Did you guys bring that thing with you?” Doshmisi asked, as she nodded her head uncertainly in the direction of Guhblorin.

“I can hear you,” Guhblorin said. “I’m standing right here. I’m not a thing.”

“You’re a geebaching,” Doshmisi said.

“I am?” Guhblorin asked, acting surprised. “Why didn’t someone tell me?” Elena pinched him and he hollered “Ouch!”

“I think I can guess where you landed after the passage,” Doshmisi said to Elena and her siblings.

“We didn’t land inside the Amber Mountains, if that’s what you think,” Denzel informed his sister. “We turned up outside of them. But we had to run inside immediately because we pretty much landed on a buzzing hive of Special Forces.”

“I received an interesting introduction to Faracadar,” Elena said.

“I’ll bet,” Jasper commented with a chuckle.

“We had to use one of the through-tunnels to get to the Wolf Circle,” Maia explained.

“And I followed the direction of the mold on the ceiling, just like you showed me last year,” Denzel told Jasper proudly. He had looked forward to relating this to his friend.

“Cool,” Jasper responded.

“The passage took me right to Debbie’s Circle, same field as last time, where Jasper was waiting. I don’t know why you fools couldn’t turn up in the right spot,” Doshmisi teased.

“Debbie’s Circle?” Reggie asked.

“They named it after Momma,” Maia told him.

 “Where did you wind up?” Doshmisi asked Sonjay.

“In the Final Fortress,” Sonjay replied with a quick laugh. “Just my luck. You land in a rosy field of flowers. Denzel and Maia turn up right by the Wolf Circle. And I land inside the dungeons.”

“You’re joking,” Jasper said, sympathetically.

“No lie,” Sonjay affirmed.

“How is Clover?” Cardamom asked.

“Not good,” Doshmisi replied, her expression growing serious at once.

“You tried using the herbal, of course, right?” Cardamom continued. Doshmisi didn’t reply right away because she didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t told anyone that the herbal had stopped acting normal. Fortunately, Iris entered the room at that moment and rescued her from answering the question.

“Excuse me for interrupting,” Iris said. “I have food prepared in the kitchen if you want to eat dinner. Clover is sleeping and the nurse will tend to her needs if she wakes. Please fill a plate and we can eat together outside in the courtyard at the long table.”

They helped Iris carry the food platters, plates, and utensils out to the courtyard and once everyone had settled at the wooden table, they took turns telling each other about everything that had happened to them since they had arrived in Faracadar. Sonjay and Reggie related their adventures with Crumpet and Buttercup and shared everything they had learned about the Corportons, including what Compost had said when they ate dinner with him at Big House City. Elena interrupted them to explain how they happened to sit down to dinner with Compost in the first place and all about Compost’s reformation. Denzel and Maia shared the story of the garbage labyrinth and their travels with Princess Honeydew and Biscuit. Elena insisted on describing how they met Guhblorin and his role in rescuing the others from the garbage labyrinth. They told about the siege and how Sonjay had talked Compost’s army into deserting so they could go home to eat buttered biscuits. Jasper and Doshmisi related everything they had learned from their trip to the North Coast. When they got to the part about Dagobaz, Doshmisi left the table to fetch the beautiful stallion and brought him into the courtyard for the others to admire.

“Is he an enchanted creature?” Cardamom asked, with a note of awe in his voice.

“No. He’s just a horse,” Doshmisi said. “Horses are commonplace in the Farland.”

“But what a magnificent horse!” Maia exclaimed.

“Yes,” Doshmisi agreed. “The most magnificent I have ever seen.”

“Commonplace or magnificent; we’re a moving target as long as we have that horse with us,” Jasper pointed out quietly. “He made quite a stir when we stepped off the ferry with him. People will spread the word about Dagobaz up and down the coast and throughout Big House City within a few days. I doubt the Corportons will say ‘oh well’ and let this valuable animal slip from their grasp. They’ll attempt to retrieve him.”

“They don’t deserve to have him,” Doshmisi insisted angrily.

“Of course they don’t,” Jasper agreed, “although I doubt they will see it that way. We can’t return him to them; but we need to accept the truth of it. He’ll lead them right to us, so we need to prepare ourselves.”

“Anyone who abuses an animal has no right to own an animal,” Doshmisi stated.

Sonjay looked around the table at the others. “So,” he said, “I want to say that we are all on the same page now, but I’m going to spell it out to make sure. Correct me if I get anything wrong. It looks like these Corportons came to Faracadar to drill for oil in the ocean at the North Coast. We don’t know where they came from. We don’t know what they’re capable of doing. They have guns and they will shoot to kill. The oil well that they drilled has exploded and is spilling oil into the ocean.”

“Meanwhile,” Denzel picked up where his brother had left off, “Daddy, who is a Prophet of the Khoum, has foretold the destruction of Faracadar to Sissrath who, believing this prophecy, has cut a deal with the Corportons to help them drill for oil if they take him with them when they leave.”

“We don’t know how much oil they expected to get or if they have however much they wanted,” Maia pointed out anxiously. “We don’t know when they plan to leave or how much oil they have already taken out of Faracadar.”

“There’s something else,” Doshmisi said hesitantly. “I didn’t want to cause alarm; but I have known for some time that something is wrong with the herbal. It doesn’t act right when I try to use it. It says strange things.”

“How do you mean?” Cardamom asked.

“I can’t use it to heal anymore,” Doshmisi said, her voice cracking as she spoke.

Jasper put a hand on Doshmisi’s arm reassuringly. “Whatever it’s doing is something that’s just happening and not your fault. You know that, right? What exactly does it do when you try to use it?”

“It doesn’t tell cures or medicinal recipes. It doesn’t open to words about how to heal a person. It opens to undecipherable stories about resilience and adaptability. It says cryptic things about developing resources. It acts almost as if it’s angry, as if it has given up on healing. When I placed it on Clover’s chest, it refused to open. The indentation in the top, where I usually put my amulet, became red hot and it repelled the amulet the way two polarized magnets repel each other. I couldn’t force the amulet into the indentation. The herbal resisted me.” Doshmisi’s eyes welled with tears and Jasper put his arm around her shoulders. Doshmisi continued in a quavering voice. “I think that Grandma Clover is dying and the herbal doesn’t wish to help me try to save her.”

“Your grandmother is a wise woman,” Cardamom said. “Do you think that she would not realize that she is dying if it’s her time?”

“No, no I don’t,” Doshmisi replied. “But we have not spoken of it.”

In the waning light, Iris lit one of the glow-lamps on the table and, as she leaned forward to light the other one, she said softly, “Clover has been ill for quite a while. I think she has been hanging on, waiting for all of you to arrive, because she wanted to see her grandchildren once again and after that she will feel ready to leave in peace. Not just because she loves you and has had so little opportunity to spend time with you, but also because she expects that you will protect and preserve the land, that once you have arrived here then you will keep Faracadar safe. She has waited for all of you to arrive so that she can tell you about the Emerald Crystal.”

“Emerald Crystal?” Elena repeated reverently, because it sounded like a tremendously magical thing.

Suddenly, a flurry of activity in the entranceway to the courtyard drew their attention. It was Mole! After he stumbled over a loose cobblestone and sprawled on the ground, he bounced right back up, his dreadlocks flopping gaily around his head. A half a dozen other battery makers accompanied him. They appeared grimy and travel-worn, with smudges of oil on their clothing.

Mole smiled broadly. “We found you,” he announced merrily. Jasper and Denzel leapt from the table and hurried to greet Mole. Denzel had become good friends with Mole the previous year when they invented and built things together in the battery barn at the Passage Circle.

“That you did,” Jasper said. Denzel thumped Mole on the back happily.

“You said Whale Island and here we be,” Mole told Jasper.

“We worried about you after that explosion in the compound,” Doshmisi said.

“I’m good. I brought my friends with me too,” Mole responded, as he waved his arm to encompass those who had traveled with him. “We blew up the workshop at the compound. We created that explosion to make a lot of smoke so more people could escape.”

“It sure helped us escape,” Doshmisi confirmed.

“I’m glad for that,” Mole said with satisfaction. He turned to his fellow battery makers and introduced each of them by name. Then Denzel introduced all of those who sat around the table.

After Denzel introduced her, Iris rose from her seat and came forward, took Mole’s big muscular hand in her slender one, and shook it gently. “Welcome to my home,” she greeted him.

Mole was one of the Coast People so he normally had a blue glow to his rich brown skin. But when Iris took his hand he flushed an interesting plum-colored shade of reddish-purple. After shaking her hand, he stepped backward, right into a metal bucket of rainwater. His foot stuck in the bucket and the water sloshed up onto his leg.

“Aiyeee,” he exclaimed as he leaned on the table so he could pick up his foot and remove the bucket. When he pulled the bucket off, he fell backward and sat down abruptly in a platter of potato salad.

“Oh dear,” Iris said sympathetically, as she attempted to scrape potato salad off the seat of Mole’s pants with a butter knife.

“Not a problem,” Mole said. “It’ll wash off.” The others observed in fascination as Mole swung his arm open to emphasize his point and managed to sweep a metal bowl filled with sliced mangoes and papayas off the table and onto Iris’s dress, which became instantly soaked with fruit juice. Mole then picked up a cloth napkin from the table and attempted to mop up the juice on Iris’s dress, but the napkin had mustard on it and so he made the mess worse.

Iris stepped away from Mole as she said, “Stop, stop. I’ll take care of it. Just stop.” Mole hung his head dejectedly.

“I was about to clear away the food, but do you and your friends want something to eat?” Iris asked Mole.

“No thanks, we ate on the ferry,” he mumbled as he stared at his feet.

Iris turned away from Mole and picked up an empty food platter. She began to stack dinner plates on the platter as she remarked to Doshmisi, “You should go see your grandmomma. She hasn’t much time left and she has much on her mind that she wishes to share with you now that the four of you have come. Poke your head in her room and see if she’s awake.”

Doshmisi turned quickly to go check on Clover. Maia took her hand and went with her.

“I’ll go too,” Reggie announced as he accompanied his daughters out of the courtyard and into Clover’s house. Iris trailed close behind them with the tray of empty plates. The others in the courtyard began to help Iris clear the table, carrying things inside to the kitchen.

“Let me know right away if she’s awake,” Sonjay called after his sisters.

“Me too,” Denzel added.

Doshmisi, Maia, and Reggie opened the door to Clover’s bedroom quietly and slipped inside. A glow-lamp on the nightstand cast a soft amber light across the room and a nurse sat in an overstuffed chair by the window, reading a book. Clover’s eyes fluttered open when she heard the door close behind her visitors.

“Are you awake Grandmomma?” Maia asked.

Clover smiled faintly. “Maia. How wonderful. Come here and take my hand, child.”

“Denzel and Sonjay have arrived also. We ate dinner while you slept,” Doshmisi explained. “Do you feel up to a visit from us?”

As Maia took her grandmother’s frail hand in her own, Clover looked over Maia’s shoulder at Reggie and her eyes grew wide. “Is that? Oh my. Is that you, Reggie?”

“Yes, it’s me, Rosemary,” Reggie approached the bed and, as Maia stepped back, he took both of Clover’s hands in his. He had called her by her given name, Rosemary, from her former life in the Farland. She had left that name behind many years before when she bound her fate irrevocably to maintaining the library in Faracadar.

“Where have you been?” Clover asked her son-in-law.

“Short version or long version?” Reggie asked.

“I’m afraid I may not have time for the long version,” she replied wistfully. “As you can see, my health has failed.”

“Sissrath held me as his prisoner in the Final Fortress these many years until Sonjay rescued me,” Reggie said. “While imprisoned, I became a Prophet of the Khoum.

“Remarkable. If only I had suspected that you were there, I would have sent someone to look for you,” Clover responded, as tears stood in her eyes. “Very good. Good that you are of the Khoum and good that you have returned to the children. They must complete a difficult task and it will perhaps be easier with their father here to help them. Bring the others to me. I must speak to all of you together.”

Reggie went to fetch Sonjay and Denzel. While they waited for their brothers, Maia and Doshmisi helped Clover sit up in her bed. She leaned back against an avalanche of pillows. She was gray and thin and her hair had become brittle, her skin papery. She looked so different from the vibrant and spry old lady who had met them at the dock when they arrived on Whale Island the year before.

With her eyes closed, Clover told Doshmisi quietly, “It doesn’t work anymore, does it?”

“What?” Doshmisi asked, but she knew.

“The herbal, it won’t give you healing recipes or instructions, will it?”

“No,” Doshmisi confirmed reluctantly.

“It prepares itself for a greater healing and, after that, it will leave, just like me,” Clover said. Doshmisi’s eyes filled with tears.

At that moment, Reggie returned with Denzel and Sonjay, who went directly to embrace their grandmother. Clover could barely muster the strength to lift her arms to offer them each a feeble hug.

“Oh Grandmomma Clover,” Doshmisi burst out, “is there anything I can do to heal you? The herbal won’t help. Do you know of anything? Just tell me and I’ll do it.”

“Even if the herbal worked the way it used to, it would not have any healing words for me. I have grown old and my time to leave approaches.” Maia leaned over and rested her head on Clover’s shoulder. Maia and Doshmisi cried softly, but Clover told them, “Don’t cry for me. I had a splendid, long life filled with friends and music, laughter and delicious food, surrounded by the books that I adore. I have loved and I have danced and I have watched the stars at night.”

“They’re not crying for you, Rosemary,” Reggie said gently. “They’re crying for themselves. They barely had any time with you.”

“One day, in the future, in a time of peace, come back to the library, my children, and Iris will guide you through my writings and my drawings and you will have a lot more of me than you can imagine. For now, time is short and you have much work to do if you hope to save this library and this land.”

“What kind of work?” Sonjay asked.

“The herbal,” Clover said. Then she ceased talking and rested briefly with her eyes closed. No one spoke. Maia and Doshmisi wiped their eyes and waited for their grandmother’s instructions. Iris slipped into the room and stood near the door.

“The herbal,” Clover continued with great effort, as she opened her eyes again, “will not heal people anymore. It must heal the land. A poison has spilled into the ocean and it will spread if you do not stop it. The poison has started to kill the green algae and when all the green algae dies, our air will become unfit to breathe. Heal the ocean with the herbal, Doshmisi.” Clover paused as she struggled to continue speaking. Iris sat on the edge of the bed next to Clover and took her thin wrist in her hand.

“Please explain it to us,” Doshmisi begged. “Don’t go yet.”

“I’m still here,” Clover said, although her voice sounded distant and faint. “Put the herbal in the ocean at the North Coast. Where the poison started. Near the wound in the ocean floor.”

“We can do that,” Sonjay said.

“But it needs the Emerald Crystal to work,” Clover said softly as she closed her eyes again.

“Where can we find the Emerald Crystal?” Denzel asked, urgently.

“The whales hid it in the Coral Caves for safekeeping,” Clover answered.

“The Coral Caves,” Sonjay repeated.

“Doshmisi must put the Emerald Crystal into the indentation in the cover of the herbal,” Clover instructed. She gasped for breath.

“Like I did with my amulet?” Doshmisi asked.

“Like that,” Clover whispered with great effort. “Emerald Crystal in indentation in herbal. Herbal in ocean at North Coast. Under the water. Heal the ocean. Algae. Whales…” Clover’s voice trailed off.

“This is too much for her,” Iris said anxiously. “Too much.”

Clover nodded gently and opened her eyes. “Too much is fine,” she said so faintly that they could barely hear her. She looked around at her grandchildren and Reggie. She smiled with deep satisfaction. Then she looked into Iris’s eyes and whispered, “I love you. I love you all.” Her eyes closed again but the smile did not leave her lips. She said nothing more. Iris sat quietly and held her hand.

Maia leaned over and kissed her grandmother’s forehead. Doshmisi, Denzel, and Sonjay each did the same in turn. Then they filed solemnly out of the room. Reggie followed them and closed Clover’s door behind them.

“Well, we know what we need to do,” Denzel said with resolve. “We need to go to the Coral Caves and retrieve the Emerald Crystal.”

“We have to move quickly because that oil spill is spreading,” Doshmisi reminded the others. “We need to get the Emerald Crystal as soon as possible.”

“We can leave first thing in the morning,” Sonjay announced, ready for action.

“I wonder where the Coral Caves are,” Maia said.

Reggie cleared his throat before informing them, “I happen to know exactly where they are.”

“Cool. Then you can show us how to get there,” Sonjay replied.

Reggie continued, “I know where they are, but I have no idea how to get there. They’re underneath Whale Island, at the bottom of the ocean.”

Changing the Prophecy Chapter 17

 

Chapter 17 Reunion

In her ignorance of the history of Faracadar, Elena was the only person in all of Big House City to believe that Compost had genuinely decided to become a reformed individual. Everyone else perceived him as a dangerous enemy and he had certainly earned that reputation. Hadn’t he just laid siege to Big House City for many weeks at Sissrath’s command, threatening the lives of the royal family? Everyone but Elena had no doubt that he belonged in prison. They did, however, allow him to take a bath, and afterward Elena cut his hair close to his head. She provided him with a clean set of clothing, helped him trim his nails, and convinced him to rub cocoa butter moisturizer on his ashy skin. After his makeover, his own mother would not have recognized him. His captors feared him less than they would have if he had the ability to use enchantment. Only some of the Mountain People could use enchantment and Compost was not a person with this ability.

Once she had helped Compost improve his appearance and personal grooming, Elena introduced herself to the royal cooks and kitchen staff and arranged to use the kitchen to prepare a traditional Mexican meal as best as she could with the ingredients that she could find at hand. She enlisted Guhblorin as her kitchen assistant and didn’t complain when he taste-tested the ingredients (especially the chocolate).

While Elena kept busy transforming Compost’s hygiene habits and establishing a makeshift taqueria in the royal kitchen, Denzel, Maia, and Honeydew met with the great enchanter Cardamom and Honeydew’s parents to sort through the information they had and to chart a course of action. They wondered why Doshmisi had instructed them not to go to the North Coast, but instead to meet her on Whale Island, when obviously something serious was happening at the North Coast. The news that Sonjay had joined forces with a Prophet of the Khoum caused much excitement among those with an understanding of what that meant. But where had Sonjay locomotaported from? Everyone was worried about Sissrath’s activities and whereabouts because they knew how much damage he could do. After much discussion, Denzel concluded, “We need more information, especially about Sissrath.”

“Only one person here in Big House City has more information about Sissrath,” Maia said.

“We have to question him,” Honeydew agreed.

“Your friend Elena should do it,” High Chieftess Saffron suggested. “She has a rapport with him. I think he would speak to her about Sissrath to prove to her that he seriously wishes to change, whether he actually does or not, which, of course, is questionable.”

“She’s too busy cooking dinner for him to interrogate him,” Denzel reminded them, unable to keep the irritation out of his voice.

“She’s cooking dinner for all of us,” Maia reminded him.

“I’ll go to the kitchen and invite her to join our conversation,” Saffron offered.

Saffron proceeded down the back stairs to the kitchen where she found Elena with her thick hair pulled back in a ponytail and her hands covered in cornmeal. Guhblorin mashed avocados in a large bowl while nibbling on a hot chili pepper, which had turned his ears bright red. “Ay Caramba!” he exclaimed after each nibble of spicy chili pepper.

“It smells delicious in here,” Saffron greeted Elena.

“I’m just getting started,” Elena responded cheerfully, clearly in her element in the kitchen. “I love this.” Her eyes glowed brightly.

“I’ve come to request that you join us for a few minutes to discuss a delicate matter,” Saffron informed her.

Elena frowned as she brushed a stray hair back from her forehead with the back of her hand and left a smudge of cornmeal on her face. “Now?”

Saffron picked up a towel and wiped the cornmeal smudge off Elena’s face. “Wash your hands and please come with me. This won’t take long.”

Elena washed up, removed her apron, and warned Guhblorin not to eat too many chilies, before following Saffron up the stairs into the council chamber.

“What’s up?” she asked as she approached the others gathered around the council table.

“Would you please help us?” Cardamom asked.

“Me?” Elena replied as her eyes grew wide. She wondered what they imagined she could do.

“Let me break it down for you,” Cardamom continued. “We need to figure out what Sissrath is doing and why. He’s extremely dangerous, extremely powerful, extremely clever, and perfectly capable of destroying the whole land. As one of Sissrath’s most high-level commanders, Compost has valuable knowledge about Sissrath’s activities. We need him to share that knowledge with us.”

“He was one of Sissrath’s commanders,” Elena corrected firmly. “Was. He gave all that up. He doesn’t work for Sissrath anymore.”

“So he says,” Honeydew responded skeptically.

“And so he means,” Elena insisted stubbornly. “I believe that people can change. He’s trying to become a different person, a better person.”

“You haven’t gone through everything with him that we’ve gone through,” Maia explained.

“Last year he tried to kill us,” Denzel said. “He commanded the Special Forces when they burned the Passage Circle to the ground. You didn’t see what the Passage Circle looked like after that attack, or what it looked like before they destroyed it. Compost put us in the garbage labyrinth, remember? And he tried to starve this entire city to death. Tell me one thing he has done to make me believe that he has changed.”

Elena gazed around the room at the expectant faces of those gathered there. “Because I am new here, I don’t have any preconceived notions about people in this place, no stereotypic perceptions of what Mountain People are like or not like, or what geebachings are like or not like. So I just see Guhblorin as he is, as he’s trying to be. Same with Compost. I don’t know about Compost’s past, I see him for who he is now, who he’s trying to be now. As an observer, it appears to me that Compost’s people from the High Mountains have been mistreated and disrespected. Perhaps if he and his people were treated better then he would have behaved differently.”

“It takes time to build trust,” Saffron said. “And we don’t have the luxury of time for that in this moment. We need information about Sissrath’s activities now. Please help us convince Compost to tell us what he knows about Sissrath.”

Elena studied the others as she considered Saffron’s request. “I would be willing to ask him politely for information if you would be willing to invite him to sit down to dinner with us tonight in the dining hall.”

“Invite him to dinner?! But he’s my swollen enemy because of the crimes he has comittated,” Hyacinth pronounced sternly.

“Qué?” Elena asked.

“Daddy means that he can’t forgive Compost that easily for the horrible things he has done, such as trying to kill him,” Honeydew explained.

Elena crossed her arms. “Well, everybody has a choice. We can either keep doing things the same way and keep seeing things the same way, or we can open our minds to new possibilities. If you keep doing things the same way then you’ll probably spend the rest of your lives fighting. Mountain People. Big House City people. Fight, fight, fight. Battles. Sieges. Burning down circles. What if you could agree to a compromise and the Mountain People could agree to a compromise and you could make a peaceful place for your children? Everyone will have to give up things they don’t want to give up. That’s how compromise works.” Elena shrugged. “That’s my opinion. It’s your land. Do what you want. But I think forgiveness will serve you better than revenge and holding grudges. If you want me, you’ll find me in the kitchen.”

As Maia watched Elena leave the council chamber, she felt a rush of affection for her friend. At the same time, she knew that Elena had simplified things in her mind because she didn’t know the history of Faracadar and she had never seen Sissrath, the leader of the so-called dissatisfied people of the Mountain Downs, commander of the Special Forces, Compost’s boss, and the most malevolent individual she had ever encountered. She wanted to defend Elena’s position, but she could not believe that Compost had transformed himself into a harmless player in the unfolding events. She knew what he was capable of.

“Theoretically, she’s right, you know,” Saffron said, with a sigh.

“Theoretically,” Hyacinth echoed.

“But not realistically. She has this fantasy that we can make a truce with Sissrath, and we know he’s just not a truce-making sort of guy,” Denzel reminded them. The previous year, Sissrath had shot Denzel, his siblings, and all of their closest friends with poison darts and they would have died if not for Sonjay calling the Staff of Shakabaz to him and using it to save their lives just in the nick of time. After that, Sissrath ran away. Denzel did not look forward to another encounter with the powerful enchanter, who appeared devoid of any human attachments or affections.

“To get what we want, I think we need to honor Elena’s request,” Saffron said.

“Guess who’s coming to dinner,” Maia said to Denzel. It was a joke. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? was the title of an old Sidney Poitier, Katherine Hepburn, and Spencer Tracey movie about a white woman who fell in love with a black man and brought him home to meet her parents. Denzel shook his head and smiled weakly.

“I’ll send a message to Compost that his presence is desired at dinner,” Cardamom said. The council meeting dissolved and Saffron headed for the kitchen to inform Elena of their decision.

They reassembled at a long wooden table in the dining room that evening. Hyacinth and Saffron dressed up for the occasion and they appeared spectacularly royal in deep-purple velvet robes trimmed with silver braid.

Eight ferocious-looking guards escorted Compost from his cell to the royal dining room. He appeared in a mustard-yellow suit with a black shirt; and the dramatic change in his appearance shocked the others. His feet remained shackled, forcing him to shuffle to the table. After Compost sat, a guard chained his left wrist to his chair, forged from heavy metal, unlike the other dining room chairs, constructed from artfully carved wood. When Elena emerged from the kitchen with Guhblorin to join the others, she took one look at Compost, and glared sternly at everyone else seated around the table. Guhblorin flapped his ears uncomfortably and hid behind Elena.

“What?” Denzel demanded. “What do you have a problem with now?”

“You must treat a dinner guest with respect. You don’t chain a dinner guest to his chair. I will not bring a single tortilla out here until you release him,” Elena announced.

“Release him?” Hyacinth asked incredulously.

“Release him?” Honeydew and Denzel echoed.

“Unchain him,” Elena demanded.

Everyone looked around at everyone else uncertainly before Saffron instructed the guards to release Compost from his chains. The guards stepped forward and unlocked the chain at his wrist and removed the manacles from his feet.

“And bring him a comfy chair like ours,” Elena ordered. Honeydew reluctantly rose and fetched a carved wooden chair with a cushioned seat from against the wall and brought it over to Compost.

Compost thanked her politely.

Elena seated herself between Compost and Guhblorin. “Tell them,” Elena said to Compost. “Before we eat, tell them what they don’t read in the history books. Tell them what you told me.”

Compost replied, “I think they know Elena. They just don’t want to know.”

“Don’t assume. Tell it,” Elena demanded. “Explain why your people feel slighted and mistreated. Tell about the long-ago time.”

“Yes, tell me about that,” Denzel interjected. “I would like to hear about that.” He couldn’t imagine what type of explanation Compost might have given to Elena, what stories he had fabricated about the past.

“At one time,” Compost commenced as he looked down self-consciously, “the Mountain People did not live in one place. We wandered with the seasons and set up camp in small groups throughout the land.” He glanced around at the others. “We didn’t believe that land belonged to particular people. It belonged to all of us and we had enough of it to share. But the other people saw things differently and didn’t like our groups when we arrived for our seasonal encampments in their settlements. They forced us into the mountains and contained us on barren land where we had difficulty finding or producing food. Before that time, we had eaten no meat, but soon our circumstances forced us to eat meat to survive. At least we retained control of our own community in the mountains, even if we had been banished from the rest of the land and ostracized. Since that time, my people have continued to feel disenfranchised and discriminated against.”

“That’s a peculiar way to describe the relocation,” Cardamom commented.

“Peculiar to you but that’s how my people see it,” Compost snapped.

“Obviously there is more to say on this subject, but let’s eat before everything gets cold,” Elena said, as she gave a sign to the kitchen staff, who then brought in trays of food that smelled delicious. Elena had cooked goose-chicken enchiladas with mole sauce as well as bean-and-cheese enchiladas with a vegetarian mole sauce. She had made chili relleno casserole, guacamole, shredded lettuce with tomatoes and cilantro, Spanish rice, and three kinds of salsa. She had prepared pitchers of sweet horchata (rice water) as well as strawberry juice. The conversation disintegrated into yummy sounds and compliments to the chef.

When Hyacinth finally stopped eating long enough to speak, and opened his mouth to say something, he did not have a chance to utter a single mangled word because the doors to the dining hall burst open and in strolled Sonjay with the others who had escaped the Final Fortress, accompanied by an escort of more than a dozen hoverboarding intuits and the colorful flash of Bayard Rustin’s feathers.

Everyone stared in amazement.

“Just in time for dinner, as usual,” Maia declared. Then her gaze fell on the strange man with the dreadlocks who had arrived with Sonjay. He looked sort of familiar to her, but she couldn’t place where she might have seen him before. Bayard flew to her and perched on her shoulder as he eyed the dinner table, searching for berries.

“Good thing we made so much food,” Elena commented to Guhblorin quietly.

“Enough for everyone,” Guhblorin answered.

“You’ve been upstaged,” Compost said to Elena. “Frankly, that one gets on my nerves.”

“Be good,” Elena warned him.

The intuits stepped down from their hoverboards and dropped to the floor in exhaustion. The guards surrounded Compost to ensure that he didn’t try to escape in the midst of the excitement, but he didn’t seem inclined to go anywhere. He continued to shovel large forkfuls of Elena’s goose-chicken in mole sauce into his mouth as he pointedly ignored the new arrivals.

“Is that?” Denzel managed to whisper, before he choked up, unable to go on. Denzel’s chest felt tight and he feared saying another word because he thought he would start crying in front of everyone.

“Our father,” Sonjay confirmed. “I found him. Sissrath imprisoned him in the Final Fortress. I turned up at the Final Fortress after the passage. I always knew our father was there.”

At the sight of Denzel and Maia, Reggie’s face collapsed with emotion and his shoulders heaved. Large tears rolled down his cheeks. Denzel raced over to Reggie, who, sobbing, seized him in an enormous bear hug. Bayard leapt off her shoulder as Maia also ran to her father, who embraced her as well. Maia burst into tears and Denzel, struggling not to cry, clung to Reggie.

Compost continued to focus on his dinner plate as he leaned close to Elena and said, “This is all very touching, but what’s for dessert?”

Elena glared at him. “Listen,” she said, “I have stuck my neck out for you to give you a chance to clean up your act. Behave or I’ll have them chain your feet together again and laugh at you when you fall on your face trying to walk.”

“OK, OK,” Compost said, attempting to appease her. “I’m trying.”

“Try harder,” Elena told him. “The suit looks good but the suit does not make the man.”

A great deal of hugging and laughter ensued and then Denzel and Hyacinth began pulling chairs to the table for the weary travelers. Crumpet smacked his younger brother Cardamom on the back while Saffron greeted Buttercup. Reggie remained locked in a tearful embrace with Maia. Sonjay asked Hyacinth if he would have some of his house staff tend to the exhausted intuits, who had used every ounce of their strength to fly Sonjay, Crumpet, Buttercup, and Reggie to Big House City. Amid the bustle and laughter and excitement, no one had yet noticed Elena’s dinner companion until Sonjay spoke up.

“Do I know you?” Sonjay remarked to Compost. “You look familiar.”

“Compost,” Denzel replied. “He’s friends with Elena now.”

“You’re joking!” Sonjay exclaimed.

“It’s a long story,” his brother said.

“Is that a geebaching?” Crumpet asked, pointing at Guhblorin.

“That’s a long story too,” Denzel informed Crumpet. “He’s also friends with Elena.”

“Is she collecting dangerous creatures?” Sonjay asked.

“Don’t be rude,” Elena admonished.

“We all have a lot of explaining to do,” Cardamom noted. “We can do so while we continue with this tasty dinner that Elena cooked for us.”

“I don’t suppose you cooked any meat,” Crumpet speculated mournfully.

“As a matter of fact,” Elena informed him with a grin, “you’ll find plenty of fat pieces of goose-chicken in this tray of enchiladas con mole.”

“Woo-hoo!” Crumpet rejoiced.

“Now you’re talking, girlfriend,” Buttercup added happily as she plopped her ample bottom into a chair and pulled close to the table.

Interrupting one another and speaking animatedly between mouthfuls, Sonjay and Crumpet shared what they knew about the Corportons at the Final Fortress, Elena introduced the reformed Compost (with a stern glance in his direction to remind him to behave) and explained why a geebaching sat at her right hand, Honeydew and Denzel repeated the information provided in Elena’s phone call with Doshmisi, and Hyacinth (in his strange way of speaking and with help from his wife and daughter) described the siege.

Cardamom showed Sonjay the enchanted box he had made as a receptacle for the Staff of Shakabaz. After Sonjay had reclaimed the Staff from Sissrath the previous year, he had left it with Cardamom for safekeeping. The box, artfully decorated with seashells, measured about the size of a loaf of bread. Cardamom demonstrated how he could open the lid and lift the Staff out until it stood at its full height and weight, and then how he could collapse the Staff back into the box.

Elena, who had never seen the splendid Staff before, could not tear her eyes from it when Cardamom revealed it. The polished, shiny, carved wooden branch bulged at the top, as thick around as the upper arm of a muscular man, and it tapered down to a thickness of no more than the wrist of a young girl at the bottom. Bristling red, yellow, blue, and green feathers graced the top of the Staff, where wooden struts held them in place within a weave of jute. Below the feathers, strings of small shells hung in a cascade. The many faces of people and animals carved into the wood of the Staff peeked out from wooden strands that entwined around the main branch like vines or smaller branches. When removed from the enchanted box, the Staff stood more than nine feet in height. “Muy bonita,” Elena said softly, “beautiful.”

“And extremely powerful,” Compost informed her.

As Cardamom returned the Staff to its enchanted box, the others around the table fell silent. Into that silence, Buttercup announced, “Reggie is a Prophet of the Khoum.”

“For real?” Honeydew asked, her eyes growing wide with astonishment.

“How?” Cardamom demanded.

“As in the High Shaman of the Khoum? With the Mystical Book?” Saffron asked.

“How totally fondue!” Hyacinth exclaimed. The others promptly ignored him because fondue was a melted cheese appetizer and no one had any idea what he really meant to say. Compost muttered to Elena, “And this man is our high chief. It makes me want to holler.”

Reggie explained how he came by the book and learned how to use it, Honeydew explained what the Prophet of the Khoum was all about for those who didn’t know and, finally, Sonjay shared with the others the prophecy about the destruction of Faracadar and the deal that Sissrath had apparently made with the Corportons whereby they agreed to take him out of Faracadar with them when they left.

“Does anyone know why the Corportons came to Faracadar in the first place?” Sonjay asked. The question hung in the air, begging a response. But none arrived.

Slowly, all eyes turned toward Compost, who patted his belly contentedly between noisy sips of horchata. The center of attention, Compost asked, “Could anyone else go for an espresso right about now?” Elena kicked him under the table. He winced and shot her a reproachful look.

Cardamom addressed Compost. “Your new friend Elena believes that you have made a serious commitment to changing your life. Perhaps you could demonstrate just how serious by sharing with us any useful information you have about Sissrath’s intentions and the purpose of the Corportons.”

Compost cast his gaze over the others at the table.

“Now would be a good time to share that information,” Sonjay said.

Compost turned to Elena and asked, bitterly, “Do you hear that tone?”

“I hear it,” she replied. “But you can’t tell me that you don’t deserve it after the nasty things you’ve done. Be gracious. If you know something that would help us defeat this Sissrath character, then please tell us,” Elena requested politely.

“I happen to be extremely intelligent,” Compost said, raising his voice to make sure everyone heard him. “And I find it insulting when people talk down to me as if I’m stupid.”

“A lot depends on how you use your intelligence,” Guhblorin piped up. “I happen to be an extremely funny geebaching, but if I use laughter to kill people, what good is my talent to me or to anyone else? How do you use your intelligence?”

Compost studied Guhblorin in surprise. Everyone else held their tongue. Compost leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “You’ve already figured out most of what I know. The Prophet of the Khoum has prophesied the destruction of Faracadar. When the Corportons appeared at the Final Fortress, Sissrath negotiated an agreement with them. He will help them on their mission here in Faracadar and in return they will take him with them when they leave. Sissrath bound the agreement with deep enchantment. We all know the strength of his diabolical skill at that.” Compost’s voice dripped with irony.

Those gathered at the table had never heard Compost speak about Sissrath with such dislike before. It shocked them.

“What about you?” Sonjay asked. “Did Sissrath plan to leave you behind in this supposedly dying land?”

“No,” Compost answered, “he did not. Or so he told me. He negotiated for me to leave with him. But honestly, I never planned to go.”

“Why not?” Elena asked in surprise. “I mean, if you believe the prophecy about the destruction.”

“I do believe it,” Compost said, with uncharacteristic sadness. “But why would I want to go anywhere else? Would you do it? I have a family and friends whom I left behind in the Mountain Downs. If the land dies, I don’t wish to survive everyone and everything in my community. I would just as soon perish with all the rest, here at home. I didn’t share these thoughts with Sissrath. He doesn’t know that I did not plan to leave with him when the time came. What joy would I have in a life so far from my home?”

The others contemplated Compost’s words in silence until Saffron stated, softly, “I always thought you were Sissrath’s man to the core.”

“You thought wrong,” Compost informed her matter-of-factly. Then he sighed and put his fork down on his plate. “Have you ever considered how things look from my point of view? What good am I? I can’t throw enchantments. So I have to work for someone who can. Admit it:  You would never trust me because I come from the Mountain Downs. I have had only one path open to me to gain power. Only one way for me to help my people have a say in the significant decisions of the land. Those of us from the Mountain Downs do tire of being demonized by you. You could give it a rest, you know.” Saffron and Hyacinth furrowed their brows in thought and Maia wondered if they were reconsidering their treatment of the Mountain People who lived in the Downs.

Compost continued, “I wonder if Sissrath will live to regret leaving Faracadar. The Corportons come from a land fighting for its survival. They need this stuff that they came here to take. I don’t know what they call the stuff; but they need it desperately to save their own land and they somehow figured out that we have it so they came to Faracadar to get it. Sissrath has helped them to mine this substance at the North Coast. When they have enough of it then they’ll go home and they’ll take Sissrath with them. You and I and everyone else will remain behind to live out the prophecy, which, as Reggie will tell you, foretells the destruction of the land but not exactly how that will occur.”

“He has that right,” Reggie added. “I can see the destruction but can’t see exactly how it will come about. I know for sure, however, that a prophecy through the way of the Mystical Book never lies, it always comes to pass.”

“Why did Sissrath order the siege of Big House City?” Cardamom asked.

“It meant nothing,” Compost replied. “Absolutely nothing. Sissrath wanted to distract you, the royals, and everyone else in order to keep you out from under foot so that he could help the Corportons at the North Coast without interference. But then the Four turned up and started turning over rocks and asking questions.”

“So now what do we do?” Reggie posed the question on everyone’s mind.

“We have to meet Dosh and Jasper on Whale Island. They’ve been to the North Coast and they know more about all this than any of us,” Sonjay replied immediately.

“We got separated during the passage into the land,” Denzel told his father.

“I gathered as much from Sonjay,” Reggie answered.

“But we need to get back together,” Maia said. “Who will go to Whale Island?”

“I’ve come with you this far and I refuse to leave you now,” Elena insisted firmly.

“What she said,” Guhblorin agreed.

“I have to see my daughter,” Reggie said simply. “So I’m in.”

Sonjay placed his hand on the box that contained the Staff of Shakabaz. “We could sure use you with us, Cardamom.”

Cardamom nodded in Sonjay’s direction and they understood from the nod that he had just agreed to go with them. Then Cardamom said, “The high chief and chieftess should remain safely within the walls of Big House City; at least until we have more information about the situation.”

“Count me in,” Honeydew said. “I’ll go.”

“Princess, I think the people need you safely at home with your parents right now,” Cardamom told her gently. Honeydew stamped her foot stubbornly. “No, no, no,” she complained in frustration. Bisc stood and licked her hand comfortingly.

Buttercup spoke up. “How about this? Crumpet and I will remain here at Big House City with the royals.” She patted Honeydew’s arm sympathetically. “But when you’re ready to head for the North Coast, send us a messenger and Crumpet and I will join you at the Passage Circle to travel with you. At such time, the princess will accompany us.”

“I advise against that,” Cardamom noted.

“Saffron?” Hyacinth deferred to his wife.

“We will all join you at the Passage Circle,” Saffron said decidedly. “If the land is in such grave danger then we have no reason to hide in the Big House.” Honeydew was not happy to be left behind, but she agreed to that plan.

Elena rose from her seat abruptly and went into the kitchen to fetch dessert, which was chocolate raspberry flan and sweet pumpkin empanadas.

Between luscious mouthfuls, Sonjay complimented Elena, “Girl, you seriously know how to throw down.”

“Absolutely,” Reggie agreed. “You put your foot in it.”

“What does that mean?” Elena asked Reggie.

Reggie laughed as he explained, “They use that expression back home where I come from. It means that you cooked an exceptional meal.”

 “Bueno. Gracias,” Elena said with a modest smile.

Hyacinth beckoned to the guards, who came forward and surrounded Compost. “Time to return the prisoner to his cell,” Hyacinth commanded.

“Wait,” Compost said as he held up a hand to stay the guards. “I have one other thing to share with you. It may help you against Sissrath.” Denzel’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and he thought maybe Compost really had started to change.

“Speak,” Cardamom encouraged Compost.

“Sissrath has a phobia about cockroaches,” Compost announced.

“How can that help us?” Sonjay asked impatiently.

“Hear him out,” Elena cautioned.

“You have no idea,” Compost continued speaking, with a raspy chuckle. “He has tried to conquer this phobia unsuccessfully. He has brought healers and enchanters to him and ordered them to remove this fear from him. None could do it and he put them all to death one by one because he thought to keep his weakness a secret. He doesn’t know that I know about it. I am probably the only person alive who knows. When he sees a cockroach, he chokes. He has trouble throwing an enchantment in the presence of a cockroach. He can barely breathe. If you put a cockroach in his path then you will have a chance of overpowering him.”

“Brilliant,” Crumpet declared. He stretched out his arm, said an enchantment, and an army of cockroaches began to drop from his sleeve and march across the floor.

“Ewww!” Elena exclaimed in disgust. Many of the others swiftly echoed with “ewwws” of their own.

“Put those away,” Saffron demanded. “I run a clean Big House here.”

“As you wish,” Crumpet said. He made three large circles in the air with his left hand and stretched his fingers out toward the cockroaches he had unleashed. They disappeared in a puff of orange-brown smoke.

“That trick will come in quite handy,” Compost told Crumpet. “Trust me on that.”

“We do trust you,” Elena replied. “Don’t we?” she asked the others, who muttered and sidestepped the question.

 “We must remember our manners, people,” Elena asserted. “Gracias for the good information, Compost. I will leave in the morning, but I hope to return to see you again, mí amigo.” She hugged Compost, who patted her on the head affectionately.

“What’s up with them?” Sonjay asked Denzel, as the guards led Compost away to lock him up.

“She likes him,” Denzel replied with a shrug. “She talked him into taking a bath. Go figure.”

“So, is she your girlfriend yet?” Sonjay teased.

“Shut up,” Denzel replied, while secretly he admitted to himself that he had grown fond of Elena. She had more substance to her than he had previously realized.

With the meal over, everyone prepared to retire to their rooms. Reggie hugged each of his children in turn and then burst into tears again. “I have imagined myself kissing you goodnight so often. I have longed for the privilege of doing so. This simple thing. To do it now feels like a miracle.”

Both residents and guests at the Big House slept well in their comfortable beds that night. They dreamt of chocolate flan and woke up refreshed and ready for whatever challenges they would need to face in the coming days.

Sonjay, Maia, Denzel, Elena, Guhblorin, Cardamom, and Reggie rode out on their tigers right after breakfast, and made the Passage Circle by nightfall. After a joyful reunion with her drummer friends, Maia stayed up half the night drumming on the beach. Early the next morning the travelers rode over the first ocean bridge and onto the first of the islands. Maia shared a tiger with Reggie, who held her and kept her from falling off while she leaned back into her father’s arms with a contented smile on her face as she caught up on the sleep she had lost the night before while drumming. The travelers arrived by ferry at the dock on Whale Island in the late afternoon, well before sunset, and Cardamom led the way to Clover’s house at the library. The Goodacres’ grandmother (the mother of Alice, Martin, Bobby, and Debbie), Clover the Griot, had served as keeper of the history and manager of the library for many years.

The library compound consisted of a central courtyard surrounded by cottages. The cottages housed the books and other library holdings. Clover lived in one of the cottages, which she shared with her assistant, Iris. Her grandchildren had visited her at her cottage the year before. In the courtyard, the travelers dismounted from their tigers and hurried to her door. They knocked and then entered, comfortable doing so in their grandmother’s house.

When the travelers appeared in the cottage, Jasper jumped up from where he sat on the couch studying maps and ran to greet them. He grabbed Denzel first in an enthusiastic hug and thumped him on the back. “Where did you land after the passage?” he asked.

“Long story,” Denzel replied. “I missed you, man. I have so much to tell you.”

Jasper released Denzel and flung his arms around Maia, then Sonjay, in turn. “I have a lot to tell you too,” Jasper said. “Say, who are these guys? Whoa, is that a geebaching?”

“Why does everyone make such a big deal about the geebaching?” Elena exploded. “Duh. Sí. Yes. He’s a geebaching. His name is Guhblorin. Don’t judge.”

Unfamiliar with Elena’s straightforward style, Jasper threw a look of hurt and puzzlement in her direction. He put his hands up, palms outward, in a gesture of defense while Bayard squawked, “Latina firecracker, Latina firecracker.”

“Elena, chill,” Denzel said. “It’s surprising and worrisome for people in Faracadar to see a geebaching. Aight? Geebachings have a bad rep. Get over it.”

Elena scowled as she informed Jasper, “He’s a reformed geebaching. He doesn’t make people laugh to death.”

“No, these days I just make them laugh until they wet their pants,” Guhblorin interjected.

Elena whirled around and yanked hard on his ear, “Enough out of you. Don’t make matters worse. And that wasn’t even funny.”

Guhblorin yelped. “I must be losing my touch,” he said contritely.

“Let me introduce you to our dad, Reggie,” Sonjay said to Jasper. Then he turned to Reggie and explained, “Jasper went everywhere with us last year as our guide.”

“You found your dad!” Jasper exclaimed. “Fantastic.”

“Is my daughter here?” Reggie asked anxiously.

“Your daughter,” Jasper echoed. “Wait right here.” Jasper turned abruptly and hurried down the hallway to Clover’s bedroom, calling as he went, “Dosh! Dosh! Come out here. You won’t believe this.”

Doshmisi emerged from the room with a startled expression. Jasper took her hand and led her to where the others waited. Of the four Goodacre children, she alone remembered her father well enough from before he had disappeared to recognize him instantly when she saw him again. They blinked at each other in astonishment in Clover’s bright living room and then Doshmisi ran to Reggie and collapsed into his arms, crying and laughing both at the same time. “Daddy. It’s really you. Oh Daddy.”

“I thought I would never see you again, baby girl,” Reggie said. He looked over Doshmisi’s shoulder and his gaze fell on each of his children, one at a time. “I thought I would never see any of you again. I thought it impossible.”

“Yes, well, we changed all that, didn’t we?” Sonjay stated with satisfaction. “Impossible happens.”